


Come Out to Socialize

by Lyra_Kero



Series: Put a Spell on You [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Halloween, Keith is a familiar, Lance is a witch, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 03:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16210298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Kero/pseuds/Lyra_Kero
Summary: Lance convinces Keith to go out to a party that’s always hosted every Halloween in the large house down the road. It goes great until it doesn’t.





	Come Out to Socialize

**Author's Note:**

> Yeaa I'm on a roll!  
> I've even got another fic lined up in this AU that I'm hoping to be able to finish soon, but I really, really wanted to write up a fun Halloween fic for this AU.

Every year, as far back as Lance could remember, the house at the end of the neighborhood always was alive with lights and loud music and laughter for one night. The last night in October always promised that their street would be full of excitement as the house partied on through the night, only ever quieting at around three in the morning November first.

Lance was always so entranced by the house, always wanted to go when he got older and he could be sure to stay awake for the whole party. He always enjoyed sitting in his room, the window open as he listened in on the excitement and joy of the house at the end of the road, watched as shadows of people passed by the windows. And this year he was going to absolutely go!

 

“You won’t make it past your mother.” Keith piped up, his tail flicking as he lounged, lazily, on Lance’s bed, the bell on his red collar tinkling quietly as he stretched and moved. “Just wait until you’re older.”  
“I’ve waited until I’m older for fourteen years!” Lance huffed, putting his hands on his hips. “Come on, you want to go see the party, too!”  
“Uh, duh.” the black cat rolled his eyes, ears twitching. “But unlike you, I have patience.” He smiled, seeing his witch’s face pale. “And as Professor Shirogane _always says_ …”

“ _Patience yields focus_.” Lance droned, groaning. “I don’t want _focus_ though! I want to have _fun_!” He moved, sitting on the bed, smirking when he saw the small black cat bounce on the bed, bell tinkling more before Keith gave him a flat glare. “Come ooooon! We’ll leave before the party’s over! No one here will _ever know_.” He moved to lift his familiar into his arms, scratching behind one of the cat’s pierced ears, knowing full well it was a sweet spot.

Right on cue Keith tensed before relaxing and purring, his body feeling like it was melting into a puddle. He was at Lance’s mercy. Keith found he was at his witch’s mercy more since his stupid dumb crush was realized.  
It sucked. It was the worst. And Keith hated how much his heart fluttered when he got to cuddle with Lance like this.

 

So of course Keith relented, agreeing to help him escape.

 

 

The entire week the two hashed out their plan, Keith being helpful in telling Lance that all his ideas were utter garbage and “Lance the idea of sneaking out is to _not_ draw attention to yourself. This isn’t a movie and your mom will just ask why you need more sheets for your room.”  
Lance would argue back that Keith wasn’t helping and that he “needed to make a sheet ladder or else what was the point of escaping out the window, Keith?!”

 

In the end the plan was shot down when Lance finally agreed that because he’d have to use the quilt his _bisabuela_ made for him when he was younger he just would use the back door. Keith didn’t much like how Lance was staring at the tree that was just outside his window, though...

 

It was the day of Halloween, the sun was warm in the sky, fighting back the late autumn chill the wind brought with it. Lance was in his room, looking through his clothes as he debated what to wear. Keith just laid starfished on his witch’s bed, boredly telling him how he looked in each outfit that the lanky boy sauntered out in. “Fine.”

“Keith you’re not even looking.” Lance glared, hands on his hips. Keith turned his head, lazily, his face flat and unexpressive.  
“Fine.” he repeated in the same bored tone. “Lance you’ve looked fine the last twenty outfits.” he finally sat up, his tail twisting and curling behind him.

“What if it’s a costume party?” Lance asked, suddenly, his eyes wide. “Oh man.” He raced back into his closet, throwing clothes around. Keith only groaned, grabbing a pillow and buried his face into it, muffling his shouts as he fell backwards once more.

 

“Um, am I interrupting something?” A new voice came through and Keith pulled his head from the pillow and Lance spun around, half dressed as Veronica knocked on the partially closed door, but had an eyebrow raised as she peered through the gap. She stepped inside and crossed her arms, leaning against the door frame. “You, uh, planning on going somewhere baby bro?”

“Jaime’s only 3, I’m not the baby anymore.” Lance grumbled, and his sister’s smile softened as she walked over to him.  
“Lance, you’re always going to be my baby bro.” she said, hugging him, playfully mussing up his hair. “Now seriously, your room’s a disaster. You going somewhere?”

“No.” Lance said, too quickly, squirming out of his sister’s hold. He glanced away. “I just, uh,”

“He’s cleaning out his closet.” Keith said, “He keeps asking me if he looks good in clothes because he doesn’t want to keep things that make him look dumb.” Lance’s eyes softened and that did things to Keith’s heart that he would never admit to anyone ever. “I told him he always looks dumb no matter what, though.”

There. That pout and glare did slightly _less_ things to his heart.  
Much better.

 

Veronica laughed, letting Lance squirm out of her arms and watched as her brother threw the tshirt he’d been holding at his familiar, who yelped as it hit him, shifted and proceeded to bound off the bed and up onto a higher shelf where Lance wouldn’t throw things.  
“So you’re _not_ planning on trying to sneak out?” she said, grinning as she watched her brother pale and laugh nervously.  
“What? Me? Pssh,” the witch boy waved his hands around, “Where would I even go? Hah! Nope! I’m just, uh, cleaning out my closet! Yep!”

“Smooth.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Alright. Then you should definitely not use the back door.” she said, and both witch and familiar looked at her. “Mom has her familiar keeping watch tonight since Lupe’s grounded.”

Lance blinked, “Vee?” he asked, only to get a light head pat as his sister turned and walked out of the room. She turned and winked, mouthing out a _have fun_ before closing the door behind her.

 

There was silence in the room before Lance turned to look up at Keith, who was still staring at the door. “I _told you_ we should have bought more sheets!”

“Oh for the love of-- Lance we’re not sneaking out your window!”

 

 

Ten o’Clock hit, the children that had been running around in colorful and creepy costumes were now scarce, lights being turned off to deter any late children, letting them know their sweets were out. A few houses still had lights on inside, parties and gatherings going on. 

And like clockwork the house at the end of the neighborhood was alight with music, lights flickered and jumped as if in tune to the pulsing beats. Shadows walked across windows as laughter poured out.

And Lance was leaning out his window, grabbing onto a close branch, tugging on it slightly in hopes it would hold his weight.  
“I can’t believe you’re sneaking out the window.” Keith muttered, already on the branch, making his way across, claws digging in as Lance gently swung out. The limb shuddered but held both witch and familiar as Lance pulled himself into a sloth cling and began to shimmy his way towards the trunk.

 

“You heard Vee,” Lance huffed, squirming as he righted himself and began to carefully climb down the tree. “Sophronia’s watching downstairs. As long as we stay on this side of the house she won’t see us.”  
“This is dumb.” Keith slowly climbed down after his witch, bell tinkling with every move until both he and Lance were safely on the ground. He shifted, stretching out his arms. “You’re going to be in _so much_ trouble if your mom finds out you snuck out.”

 

“She won’t find out. Come on!” Lance whispered, grabbing his familiar’s hand and tugged him along down the road.

 

 

The house was larger than either boy expected. Of course it was a huge house, looking at least three stories tall, but it looked impossibly taller now that both boys were standing in front of it. The front door was open a crack, letting the music and laughter from inside leak out into the night air. They shivered from the cold as they slowly walked along the pathway towards the steps, the concrete cracked with weeds taking over as the only living things, putting up a fight against the chilling weather. The lawn itself looked overgrown and Keith was suddenly hit with a revelation.

“Lance, does anyone even _live_ here?” the familiar looked over to Lance, who was already walking up the creaking steps. “I’ve never seen anyone in here.”

“It’s probably a second home or something.” Lance said, shrugging. “They probably only use it for parties and stuff.” He made it to the door, looking up at the ornate door knocker. A perfectly carved lion’s head roaring and snarling as the brass ring hung from it’s mouth.

“Should we knock?” the witch boy turned to his familiar, and the other boy shrugged.

“I don’t know.” Keith said, ears lowering a bit. “The door’s open. Maybe we just.. Walk in?”  
“That feels rude.”  
“So is going to a party we weren’t invited to.”

Lance ignored his familiar after that and chose, instead nudged the door open a little wider and peered inside. “Hello?” he called out, listening as his voice was drowned out by the sounds of the party. He stepped inside, feeling Keith slowly follow him in and the two glanced around, making their way down the hall. Candles lit their path, flickering as if they were dancing to the heavy bass of music that echoed around them, mixing with shrieks and laughter and conversation perfectly. The air felt thick the closer the two boys got and soon they stopped at a large parlor area where it seemed everyone was gathered.

 

Everyone was dressed in costume, dancing and laughing and chatting. Everyone seemingly doing their own thing and no one cast a second glance to the two boys as they entered.  
“Whoa.” Lance’s eyes went wide as he looked around. “Man I feel underdressed.”  
“Just say you’re a homicidal maniac.” Keith offered, “You look like everyone else.” He was met with a punch to the arm and Lance muttering a _not funny_ even as his face broke into a grin.

“Then what are you?” the witch boy asked, crossing his arms. Keith pointed to his ears, which twitched faintly.  
“I’m a cat. Duh.” Another punch, but this one followed by a sharp laugh.

“Oh!” The two boys broke away from their conversation and turned to a new voice. A woman was standing before them, her hair pulled back into an elegant bun, a few stray tendrils falling across her face. She was dressed in a flowing wedding gown, veil pulled back and hanging behind her hair. “What are you two doing here?”

“Uh,” Lance frowned, glancing over to Keith, who was staring the woman down, eyes narrowed. “We just came here for the party.”

The woman looked down to Lance, gently kneeling, not seeming to care if her long dress would get filthy. “You’re so young.” she said softly, “Gracious, how did you end up here?”

Lance blinked, his nose crinkling slightly. “I went out my window.” he said, shrugging. The woman frowned at that.  
“I see..” she said softly, before she smiled, reaching a hand out and lightly stroked the witch boy’s cheek. “You’re welcome to stay here, then. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“I’m Lance.” the witch boy smiled, “And this is Keith, he’s my familiar.”  
Keith frowned slightly, his ears low as he eyed the woman, warily. Something was off, but he couldn’t figure it out.  
“My name is Francis. You’re welcome here as well.” the woman, Francis, rose to her feet once more, her smile growing. “Goodness knows we we’d love to have more company. Help yourself to whatever you find.”

 

At that, Lance’s eyes lit up and he grabbed the black cat’s hand, tugging him along towards the long table of food. The woman only laughed as she watched them race off.  
Keith gave one more glance back, but Francis was only smiling fondly at the two boys before she turned and went back into the crowd, striking up a conversation with a pair of blond twins, bandaged and looking like they were wearing medical scrubs.

 

Lance gasped and let go of his familiar’s hand and Keith pulled his gaze back over, eyes widening at the amount of food present on the table. It looked like a feast fit for a king! Several kings! Lance was already reaching for a slice of cake and Keith dove forward, snatching up a candied apple. Both boys took a bite of their respective treats, gave off pleased sounds and swapped to let the other try before they went back for more.

 

Punch and soda and cookies and tarts and cupcakes Lance was fairly certain that this drink had alcohol in it but he split it with Keith and both were a giggling mess as they happily gorged themselves on very sweet treat they could find.

It was in this foggy haze of alcoholic buzz and sugar rush that both boys heard a tutt from behind them. This time a new woman was standing, dressed in a dark purple kimono. Her hair was half pulled back and a set of fox ears were perched high on her hair and one - no two (two? Were they so drunk they were seeing double?? _Where were the pink elephants!?_ ) tails were hanging behind her.  
“You boys don’t know self control do you?” she raised an eyebrow but smiled down to them, folding her hands in front of her. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

 

Lance grinned, laughing as he nodded. “Yeah!” he said, slinging an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “We just got here a while ago! We’re sorry we didn’t talk to you yet. We just saw the food and--” he was cut off when the woman laughed and raised her hand.

 

“It’s fine.” she said, her smile growing. “You have no need to apologize. Everyone here celebrates in their own way. Eat and enjoy yourselves tonight.” She let her eyes dance across the two young boys before her gaze softened, “I would suggest you don’t consume any more alcohol, though.”

“Kuroko,” Francis showed up, shaking her head, “let them have their fun. They’re so young, I’m sure they can indulge themselves.”

 

“It’s fine, miss Francis.” Keith said, his tail twitching behind him. “We probably shouldn’t have more.” He looked over to his witch, who nodded in agreement.  
“Yeah.” Heaven knew how pissed his mother would be if she found out he got drunk at a party he snuck out to. He looked around the party and smiled, laughing as he grabbed his familiar’s hand. “Come on, Keith! Let’s dance!”

“I don’t wanna!” The black cat whined, but allowed himself to be dragged from the table, reaching out for one last cookie and shoved it into his mouth.

 

The two women laughed before looking to one another, their smiles turning sad before they went back to watching the two boys enjoy themselves.

 

Neither boy had ever heard of this song. There were no words,but it was full of energy and the music seemed to fill their bodies with rhythm and they danced, swinging each other around and swaying their bodies. Other patrons of the party noticed them and laughed cheerfully, coming to dance with them. One person took Lance’s hand and spun him around while another lifted Keith into the air, causing the cat to tense and flail slightly from the sudden movement and squirm. He was not prepared or expecting that, _shut up Lance stop laughing_!

 

 

The two boys flitted around the room, talking with everyone they could, dancing when they caught their breath to the other worldly music and ate far more candy and sweets than they should for so late at night.  
They would be feeling so _sick_ tomorrow morning, but they couldn’t find it in themselves to care.

All in all tonight had been the most fun they’d ever had. When Lance found Francis and told her just that she just smiled and laughed happily.

 

“I’m so happy to hear that, Lance.” she said, smiling warmly down to him.

“I’m definitely coming back next year! And every year after that!” he threw his hands out wide. “I’ll even bring my friends next year!”

The woman frowned slightly, “Lance, you shouldn’t be so selfish.”

 

Lance blinked, confused, “But they’ll love it here.” he turned to his familiar, about to ask a question but caught sight of the grandfather clock at the far end of the room. “Oh man. Keith, we gotta go!”

“Go?” Francis blinked, but was ignored as Keith turned to look at the clock, eyes widening.

“Your mother’s going to be so mad if she finds out we’re gone.” the cat hissed, dropping the fifth candy apple he’d been eating that evening. “We need to go home.” he turned to older woman. “Thanks a lot for letting us hang out!”

 

The boys expected Francis to understand and be gracious. Thanking them for stopping by and formally inviting them next year.  
They weren’t expecting the thousand yard stare she had adopted on her features. And she looked… so much more pale. Almost translucent.

 

“You’re alive.” the woman breathed, her eyes wide with an emotion that made Lance shudder. Longing, sorrow, jealousy… He swallowed, hesitantly taking a step back, only to brush against something. He looked back and there was Kuroko, her hair hanging down her back, her own eyes reflecting the jealousy and longing as Francis’s, but without the sorrow and kindness.

 

“How did you get here?” she asked, eyes narrowed, ears pinning back. Around them, the rest of the party goers gathered around, muttering to themselves as they stared the witch boy and his familiar down. Keith felt his fur stand on end as he stepped closer, protectively, to Lance.  
“We… w-we climbed out my window.” Lance said, “We used the tree and then walked here. The front door was open so we just walked in--”

 

“ _Bullshit_!” Kuroko reached out a hand, grabbing Lance’s arm. She hissed when Keith morphed, swiping his claws at the woman’s hand, making her let go and Lance stumbled backwards. “That door is _never open_!” There was a murmur of agreement around the rest of the guests.

“It was open!” Keith growled out, taking up a defensive position on Lance’s shoulders, his ears pinned back against his head. “We called out and walked in!”

 

“You were able to walk in.” Francis whispered softly, drawing Lance’s attention, Keith however was kept on high alert, yowling in anger at the other guests around them. “You… you can leave.” her eyes began to glisten. “You must leave, Lance.”

 

“No.” Kuroko reached out, this time grabbing Keith by the scruff of his neck. The black cat squirmed, yelling out in protest before he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, where he shifted and grabbed onto the woman’s ankle, stopping her from getting closer to Lance. “Lance, sweetie.” she smiled, lowering herself, “Stay here with us. We’ll have parties all the time.”

 

“I… I really have to go back home.” Lance said, trying to walk around the woman, managing to get back to where Keith was and was pulling on his arm to make him get up.

Kuroko only smiled wider. And wider. And soon her face split open painfully as she cackled. “Oh, sweet child. You’re not escaping without me!” She shrieked and lunged forward, her nails sharpening to a point. Lance yelped and ducked out of the way. Keith grabbed onto Lance’s wrist and pulled him away, pushing through the crowds. Many party goers stepped out of the way while others tried to stop them, seemingly as mad as Kuroko. Their costumes turning sinister. The twins with bandages now had missing limbs as the woman reached out with her only arm, smiling as she begged Lance to take her and her brother with them, her brother taking a swipe to try and capture the boy.

 

Among the chaos, both boys could hear Francis yelling behind them, and Lance chanced a glance back, seeing the kind ghost doing her best to push and shove the others away. “Hurry! Get out of here!” From somewhere behind her, Kuroko’s voice shattered out in rage.  
“Let them stay! I’ll gladly help them be ready for next year!” her words were laced with insanity and Francis seemed to turn, trying to body block the crazed woman.

Somewhere a clock chimed and the party goers stilled. It chimed once and both witch and familiar felt their hearts pound in their chests.  
It chimed twice and Kuroko had broken through, shouting in a maddened fury as she crouched on all fours, charging after the boys, the twin furry tails behind her bristled as she raced.

It chimed a third time as Keith and Lance vaulted out the open front door, slamming it closed behind them and held it shut. They felt an impact on the other side, heard claws digging into the wooden frame then… nothing.

 

The panted heavily, their bodies trembling with adrenaline that was slowly seeping out, before they carefully let go of the doorknob and took several steps back. “Do… do you think it’s safe?” Lance breathed and Keith shrugged, his ears perking as he strained to hear anything. He hesitantly stepped forward, pressing his head against the door, listening for anything.  
“I don’t hear anything.” He bit his lip, glancing over to Lance who stepped up close to him. They shared a look and began to slowly open the door.

 

“ _Hey_!” The two yelled out in terror, grabbing onto one another as they fumbled, falling to the ground and spun around. A woman was standing in the walkway leading up to the house, her face pulled in a frown. “What do you two think you’re doing? You’re trespassing!”

“S-sorry!” Lance sputtered out, “we just… We just--”

“Get going and go home.” She said, much gentler as she walked up the steps. “You boys don’t need to be here.” With that both boys nodded, scrambling to their feet and raced down the steps and away from the house.

The woman shook her head, turning to the house and closed the door. No one saw the long, deep gouges on the inside of the house, as if a feral beast had been trying to escape.  
The only movement that night were two boys, holding hands as they raced through the still, quiet night.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh! Title's from Grim Grinning Ghosts! :)


End file.
